SSSP Awards

The SSSP annually gives its prestigious C. Wright Mills Award to the author of what the committee considers to be the most outstanding book written in the tradition of C. Wright Mills and his dedication to a search for a sophisticated understanding of the individual and society. Past winners have included Patricia Hill Collins, William Julius Wilson, Pun Ngai, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Charles Tilly, Theda Skocpol, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harry Braverman, Frances Fox Piven-Richard Cloward, Jacqueline P. Wiseman, Laud Humphreys, and Jerome H. Skolnick.

Joseph B. Gittler AwardIn 2007, a bequest by Joseph B. Gittler was made to the association establishing an award given to a SSSP member for significant scholarly achievements on the ethical resolution of social problems. Past recipients have included Valerie Jenness, Gregory D. Squires, Ellen Pence, Frances Fox Piven, and Nancy A. Wonders.

Lee Founders AwardEstablished in 1981, this award is made in recognition of significant lifetime achievements demonstrating a devotion to the ideals of the founders of the Society and especially to the humanist tradition of Alfred McClung Lee and Elizabeth Briant Lee. Past winners have included Thomas C. Hood, Irving Kenneth Zola, David A. Snow, and Elliot Liebow.

Thomas C. Hood Social Action AwardSince 1991 the SSSP has given an award to an organization in the city hosting the annual meeting for its social justice work. In 2009, the award was named in honor of Thomas C. Hood, who retired as Executive Officer in 2009 after serving the Society in that capacity for 19 years. Past winners have included Atlanta’s Youth Speak Truth and the Coalition for Human Immigration Rights of Los Angeles.

The SSSP established the Lee Scholar Support Fund to help bring foreign scholars to the Annual Meeting. The specific purpose is to facilitate scholarly participation by persons engaged in research related to labor, gender, race-ethnicity, less advantaged countries, and other struggles. More generally, the purpose of this fund is to foster cooperative relations among persons and organizations engaged in applying sociological findings to confront social problems and effect social change.

Lee Student Support Fund

In recognition of Al Lee’s commitment to social justice and contributions to the SSSP, the Society established the Lee Student Support Fund to help defray the cost of conference attendance and participation by student members.

Erwin O. Smigel Award

The SSSP established the Erwin O. Smigel Award in 1975 to provide assistance to unemployed and underemployed sociologists to help them participate in the Annual Meeting. Applicants should be sociologists with an advanced degree who are not full-time students and who are not fully employed.